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City supports $12M for 9th, N.H. Journal-World File Photo
FORMER LAWRENCE resident Kathleen Cobb was convicted of murdering Henry Davis on Feb. 27, 1980. The crime has now been expunged, or removed, from her record.
Woman’s murder conviction expunged By Scott Rothschild srothschild@ljworld.com
in Douglas County, 61 of them had some sort of change that moves voters from one district to another. Some precincts had numerous changes. Shew said Willow Springs Township previously all was covered by the same state House and Senate districts. Now, there are two House districts and two Senate districts in the township. “It does get confusing because
TOPEKA — A former Lawrence resident who was convicted of murder in a highprofile case more than 30 years ago has had her conviction expunged. The expungement for Kathleen Cobb means that when a criminal background check is conducted for employment, the conviction will not show up on her record. Cobb’s expungement was approved by Shawnee County District Court Judge David Debenham. A spokesman for the Shawnee County District Attorney’s office said the office opposed the expungement because of the seriousness of the crime. Debenham declined to comment on the case. When the Lawrence Journal-World requested to see the legal petitions and expungement order, Shawnee County officials said no records related to the case could be released. Cobb has moved out of Kansas and declined to comment about the issue. Cobb served more than 17 years in prison after being convicted of first-degree murder in the death of Henry Davis, a Lawrence resident. At the time of the incident, Cobb and Davis were both 22, close friends and drug users. According to testimony at the time, Cobb had said that Davis asked her to help him commit suicide. He wanted to kill himself because he had a premonition that he would suffer a car crash and long, painful death, Cobb said. On Feb. 27, 1980, Cobb and
Please see CARDS, page 2A
Please see MURDER, page 2A
Nick Krug/Journal-World Photo
AN AERIAL VIEW LOOKING NORTHWEST TUESDAY SHOWS DOWNTOWN LAWRENCE at the intersection of Ninth and New Hampshire streets. On Tuesday, the Lawrence City Commission voted 4-0 to create a redevelopment district on both the southeast and northeast corners of Ninth and New Hampshire streets, which will make the area eligible to receive special tax breaks.
Tax breaks would help developers build underground parking garages By Chad Lawhorn clawhorn@ljworld.com
If the southeast corner of Ninth and New Hampshire streets is ever to become anything other than a vacant lot, it likely will take some financial incentives from the city to make it happen, city commissioners agreed Tuesday. Commissioners at their weekly meeting cleared the
way for a nearly $12 million package of incentives to be offered to developers of a proposed $43 million redevelopment at Ninth and New Hampshire that is expected to include a multistory hotel/retail building on the southeast corner and a multistory apartment/office building on the northeast corner. Commissioners agreed to create a redevelopment district
on both the southeast and northeast corners of Ninth and New Hampshire streets, which will make CITY COMMISSION the area eligible to receive special tax breaks to help developers build a pair of private, below-ground parking garages to serve new development at the intersection.
In total, the incentives are expected to reach $11.8 million over an approximately 20-year period, but commissioners Tuesday stressed none of the money would have to come from the city’s current budget. Instead, all of the money will come from new taxes generated directly by the development. Please see INCENTIVES, page 2A
REDISTRICTING
Voters to get new cards to minimize election confusion By Chad Lawhorn clawhorn@ljworld.com
Think of it as an instruction sheet for voters. After federal judges last month completely redrew legislative districts throughout Kansas, Douglas County officials have decided to spend about $23,000 to send new information cards to every registered voter in the county to head off confusion about what races voters are eli-
The voter’s gible to participate in. party affiliation. “There was just such a large
The voter’s number of precincts that have address. had changes, that it made sense
A list of all to just send everybody a new the legislative card,” said Douglas County and governmenClerk Jamie Shew. tal districts a Shew’s office took about voter is eligible 75,000 voter registration cards to vote in, into the mail on Monday. Voters Shew cluding Conshould start receiving the cards any day. The cards will include: gressional district, and state and
The location of the person’s house districts. polling place. Shew said of the 71 precincts
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9/11 truck stops here
Vol.154/No.207 30 pages
A fire truck that responded to the World Trade Center complex on 9/11 makes a stop in Lawrence. Nine firefighters on the truck lost their lives responding to the attack. Page 3A
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